PSYCHOLOGY

AS A SCIENCE Much of what you have learned about psychology probably comes from the media. To list a few: Schizophrenics have more than one personality. All effective psychotherapies require clients to get to the root of their problems in childhood. Most people use only about 10% of their brain capacity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSR- uefPmME&p=BBDEEF5A594AD036&playn ext=1&index=33 The popular psychology industry has grown tremendously, this means that the public has gained more access to psychological knowledge; access to this information however in many instances has led to the public being misinformed.

It is our responsibility to distinguish

between what is psychological information from misinformation. This appears to be science but it is not scientific, they are imposters of science. There are some claims that cannot be measured scientifically, these we refer to metaphysical (God, afterlife and soul). If you try to contest the findings of others and they consistently find excuses to justify their findings then they are using pseudoscience not science (ad hoc immunizing hypothesis). Scientific claims when inaccurate are eventually discarded; pseudosciences tend to hold on to their claims even though proven inaccurate. Pseudoscience tends to overstate their claims they use terms such as proven, yet they do not provide individuals with the outcomes rendered. Pseudoscience avoids peer review: although this safeguards against bad research, articles published in peer-review journals are not always accurate. Scientific findings usually build on and connect other scientific findings; pseudoscience on the other hand proclaims new ideas and disregard prior research. Pseudoscientific claims use scientific styles when presenting information to their clients which makes the information seems credible. There are two ways in which we think about information- rationally or experientially. Rational- careful logical reasoning Experientially- emotional, intuition, gut feelings. Flawed beliefs: Our fears about life leaves us vulnerable, we therefore turn to pseudoscience as it provides us with hope; some of us tend to embrace the supernatural as means of helping to address our anxiety (transcendental temptation). Many individuals are scientifically illiterate, therefore when presented with pseudoscience it is difficult for them to challenge these claims. Our brains are equipped to find patterns, bring order or make sense of the information we are presented with.. This can however at times lead us to see things that are not there. We have a tendency to perceive meaningful patterns out of meaningless stimuli (pareidolia). Finding connections to things that are unrelated (apophenia). For example a friend calling when you were thinking of that friend, coincidence or faith? Emotional reasoning fallacy: when we use our emotions to evaluate the information we receive as being valid. In this case we need to be open minded to data whether or not they confirm our preconceived notions. Bandwagon fallacy: if many people believe in it then we tend to believe it also. Either or fallacy: there are few psychological questions that can be answered by one of two alternatives. This fallacy promotes this kind of black or white reasoning. Not me fallacy: many of us think that because we are exposed to the scientific method, then we are immune from errors. Costly: Consumers tend to seek out pseudoscience as opposed to effective treatment.

Animal deaths: pseudoscience promotes the use of

animals in treating illnesses such as headaches, sexual dysfunction etc, for which there is no evidence of its effectiveness. The evidence however is that more animals are dying and even becoming extinct as a result.

Direct harm: treatment can be harmful to those

who receive it.

Inability to think critically can impact on our

planet. Noticed a change in your friend's behavior. She has become less engaged, is easily agitated, has missed many days of work for no apparent reason, and is less enthusiastic about life in general. What would you do? What you are doing is research. Psychologists do research for the same reasons - they want to know more about why people behave the way they do.

The only difference is that theirs is

scientific. Some tend to associate science with chemistry, biology or physics. These are bodies of knowledge. Science is an approach to evidence. This approach is specific. Scientists are willing to share their findings, what Merton (1942) refers to as communalism. Merton encourages scientists to engage in disinterestedness, ensuring that they are objective when evaluating evidence. One should be able to measure and observe the phenomenon that is being studied.

Emerged when ideas in philosophy were

combined with findings and methods in the field of physiology. An approach to knowledge that relies on a systematic method of generating hypotheses, collecting data, and explaining the data. Describe, Explain, Predict, and control some behaviors Accuracy- gathering and evaluating information in a careful, precise and error-free manner. Note that scientists tend to use phrases such as suggests, appears, raises the possibility. Good scientists dont use terms such as prove, they display humility when describing their findings.

Objectivity- obtaining information in a manner

that is free from biases. Skepticism- comes from the Greek term skeptikosto consider carefully. Good scientists accept findings as accurate only after they have been verified over and over again. Open- Mindedness- changing one views- even those that are strongly held- in the face of evidence thats these views are inaccurate. Good scientists recognize when they are wrong and free themselves from belief perseverance. Some people do not think that they need to study psychology to understand human behaviour. After all, isnt most of what psychology talk and write about obvious? Or common sense?

How much of your intuition or knowledge

base about human behaviour scientifically based? Lets find out.... A drunken person can sober up by taking a shower and drinking coffee. Shaving makes hair on your face or legs grow back thicker, darker and faster. Murders, suicide, and mental disorders are more likely to occur when the moon is full. You cannot fool a lie detector (polygraph). You stand more of a chance of getting help if you are in trouble if there are three or more persons around you than if there is only one person who sees you need assistance. Smiling a lot makes you happy. Getting upset over lifes daily hassles can make you more likely to get colds, intestinal disorders and other illnesses. It is possible to inherit the predisposition to be an alcoholic. Conclusions based on common sense or folk wisdom is subjective, inconsistent and contradictory. According to French writer Voltaire, Common sense is not entirely common Our intuition frequently has flaws. We are often unaware of this, treating it as the truth until others challenge us. Common sense is often trusted because of what Ross calls our nave realism- seeing is believing. Although our intuition at times serves a vital purpose, it can deceive us; preventing us from seeing the world as is. Cognitive biases: logical errors in thinking. Confirmation bias The tendency to verify our own views. We notice and remember mainly information that confirm what we already believe. Belief perseverance Hindsight bias- when we overestimate how well we could have predicted outcomes we felt we knew. Overconfidence- overvalue our ability to make correct predictions. Heuristic- mental shortcuts we take to better understand our worlds. Representative heuristic- we tend to place things in the same category if they appear to be superficially similar. Availability heuristic Emphasizing what comes to mind first or most readily. These things are usually more memorable, but because something is more memorable doesnt mean that it is the truth. Rational vs. Intuitive Thought- The danger of gut-level thinking. Common sense is not always wrong, it helps us to assess if someone is trustworthy, helps to formulate hypotheses that we can therefore test. We however need to be cautious, understanding when to trust our common sense and when not to. Being equipped with these critical thinking tools will aid in the process of being more informative individuals.What is a theory? The systematic explanation of a phenomenon. A theory is a general principle or a collection of interrelated general principles that is put forward as an explanation of a set of known facts and empirical findings. A common misconception is that a theory explains one specific event. Or that it is an educated guess.

What is a hypothesis? A hypothesis is any statement, proposition or assumption that serves as a tentative explanation of certain facts. When we make reference to critical thinking, it is not that we are saying that you should attack the psychological claims. It simply means that you should have skills necessary to carefully and open- mindedly evaluate claims. There are six critical ways of thinking that is introduced by Lilienfeld et al (2008).1. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence: David Humes, Scottish philosopher suggests that if we are to accept a claim that contradicts what we know we must be presented with persuasive evidence.2. Falsifiability: According to Sir Karl Popper science philosopher, a claim must be capable of being disproved.3. Principle of parsimony- Occams Razor: named after British philosopher and monk Sir William of Occam. This calls for simple logistics; if presented with two explanations of the data one should choose the simplest one.4. Replicability: this means that the findings can be duplicated by other researchers.5. Ruling out rival hypotheses: we need to ensure that we have looked at all possible explanations.6. Correlation does not mean causation: because variables are related to each other, it does not mean that they cause each other. If we do this then it is correlation-causation fallacy. Experimental methods produce measurable quantitative data.

Non-experimental methods can

sometimes give quantitative databut information is more likely to bedescriptive or qualitative in nature.1. Archival research

2. Observational research

3. Surveys

4. Case studies

5. Correlational research

6. Experimental researchThis method of data collection involves a systematic search of record that have been collected for other purposes.

Archival research is a Good starting point for research Good way to generate research hypotheses and A good way to test predictions in times and places which are otherwise inaccessibleThere are two basic methods:

1. Naturalistic observation- unobtrusive observation

of behaviour as it occurs in real life environments.

Advantage: high external validity that is we can

generalize the findings to other real life settings. Disadvantage: low internal validity, we cannot make causal inferences.

2. Participant observation- here the researcher

actually gets involved in the scene being observed, and exercises a deliberate influence on the behaviour. Involve detailed study of one or small number of people, usually over an extended period of time.

Information is used to formulate principles

or reach conclusions that can aid in understanding a particular phenomenon. The advantage: provides the psychologists with insights into different aspects of behaviour, sometimes into rare and special cases that we cannot recreate in the laboratory. Disadvantage: cannot generalize as psychologically individuals are unique.Surveys- a systematic way of asking people about a topic- getting people to indicate what they are thinking or feeling.

There are two kinds of surveys;

1. Interviews- face-to- face interaction2. Questionnaires- written forms on which respondents indicate their opinions or rate their perceptions of an issue on a scale

Surveys allow for representative samples and a

multivariate approach but, questions must be carefully phrased as well as ensuring the accuracy of subjects responses Halo effect/horns effect Leniency effect Error of central tendency effect Measures the relationship between two or more variables, looking at events that appear to be related to each other.

It is useful for finding

variables that co- vary (one changes as the other changes) but it does not mean that one causes another.

Correlation DOES NOT

mean causation.The more hours a high The more years ofschool student works education a personduring the week, the receives, the higherfewer Fs he or she gets in his or her yearlyclass. income is. It involves careful observation and statistical analyses to test correlation.

You get what is called a correlation coefficient

which is indicated by r.

Correlations range from 1.00 - + 1.00

(represents the strength/magnitude of the correlation) the closer they are to 1, regardless of or + the stronger the correlation. + means that the variables go together 0 means that the variable dont go together - means the variable go in opposite directionCorrelation means relationship, so thepurpose of a correlational study is todetermine if a relationship exists, whatdirection the relationship is, and howstrong it is.

It can not make any assumptions of

cause and effect (no causation).In Correlational Studies, the relationship isbetween two variables. There are threepossible results of a correlational study: apositive correlation, a negative correlation,and no correlation. These are usually shownin graphs.

The correlation coefficient is a measure of

correlation strength and can range from 1.00 to +1.00. Positive Correlations: Both variables increase or decrease at the same time. Acorrelation coefficient close to +1.00 indicates a strong positive correlation.

Negative Correlations: Indicates that as the

amount of one variable increases, the other decreases (and vice versa). A correlation coefficient close to -1.00 indicates a strong negative correlation.

No Correlation: Indicates no relationship

At times we tend to perceive that a correlation exists between variables when there are no evidence for it. Such as: Dont open the umbrella over your head in the house you wont get married. Full moon and increase in mental illness. Arthritis pain increases with rainy weather.Up to this point, all the methods mentioned allow us to examine the relationship between two or more variables.

However, none of them allow us to

say convincingly that any of those variables cause any of the others.Perhaps the simplest form of research is (Naturalistic) Observation.

It means, observing behavior in their

natural environment. It often involvescounting behaviors, such as number ofaggressive acts, number of smiles, etc.Useful for describing behaviour and for suggesting causalhypotheses that could be tested in experiments Unlike correlational research methods or psychological tests, experiments can provideinformation about cause-and- effect relationships between variables. In an experiment, a researchermanipulates or changes a particularvariable under controlled conditionswhile observing resulting changes in another variable or variables. Variable: A factor or element that can change in observable and measurable ways. Independent Variable (IV) the variable that is manipulated by the experimenter (input variable)-effects the experimenter wishes to examine. Dependent Variable (DV) the outcome variable (results of the experiment)-experimenter wants to find out if this variable depends on some other factor. The control group: made up of individuals who are randomly assigned to a group but do not receive the treatment. The measures taken from the control group are then compared to those in the experimental group to determine if the treatment had an effect. The experimental group: made up of individuals who are randomly assigned to the group and then receive the treatment. The scores of these participants are compared to those in the control group to determine if the treatment had an effect. Experimental Hypothesis: By defining our variables that we will use to test our theory we derive at ourhypothesis, which is a testable form of a theory that guesses about the possible relationship between two or more variables. The researcher manipulates theindependent variable and observes the dependent variable. The dependent variable may be affected by changes in the independent variable.

In other words, the dependent

variable depends (or is thought to depend) on the independent Experimental procedures allow researchers to manipulate and control factors being studied so that CAUSAL statements can be made about how variables influences each other.

These methods allow for the study of social variables under

more carefully controlled and standardized conditions. A valid experiment is when the level of independent variable is the only difference between the experimental and the control group. Any other difference is referred to as a confound.

There are two ingredients for an experiment

Random assignment of participants to conditions Manipulation of independent variables

These methods include laboratory, field and natural

experiments Placebo effect: there will be an effect because it was expected.

To control for this subjects should not know which group they are placed into (blind).

Nocebo effect: there will be harm because harm is expected.

The experimenter expectancy/Rosenthal effect: the

researchers hypotheses unintentionally leads them to bias the outcome of the results. Counter this by not letting the researcher or participant know which group they are in (double-blind).

Hawthorne effect: participants change their behaviour

because they knew they were being studied. Demand characteristics- participants pick up cues from the experiment that help them guess the hypotheses. When given the results from the dependent variable we always have to ask is it reliable and valid?

Reliability: the consistency of measurement.

Validity: the extent to which a measure assess

what it proclaims to measure. CONDUCT- Psychologists should avoid causing participants unnecessary stress and discomfort.

INFORMED CONSENT- Psychologists should

obtain informed consent from the participants, specifying the nature of the experiment before the experiment is conducted.

CONFIDENTIALITY- research records should

be regarded as confidential and not released to the public without the consent of participants.

COMPETENCE- researchers should work within

their own limits of competence. DECEPTION- In some cases, full disclosure of the procedures could influence the nature of the results, in which case only partial or incomplete information about the procedure is given to the participants in advance.

Whenever deception is used in experiments, the

experimenters should conduct a debriefing- an explicit statement to the participants about what deception was used and why it was necessary.

During the debriefing researchers try to alleviate

any discomfort that might have occurred during the experimental session, and discuss the research with them, which is educational to both parties. Studies examining the impact of deception in experiments on participants have typically found that participants do not object to the mild discomfort that is typically produced, and often, they find such experiments more interesting than nondeception experiments. It was believed that if psychology was a science then it should apply to all human beings regardless of where they live, their cultural background, or their cultural identity.

That frame of thought has changed and Psychology

has now adapted a multicultural perspective that examines cultural differences in the role of human behavior.

We need to realize that what is normal in one culture

is not normal in other cultures. Psychologists use statistics to analyze their findings. There are two types of statistics: Descriptive statistics: they describe data 1. Central tendency: shows us where the group clusters 1. Mean: Average 2. Median: middle score of the data set 3. Mode: most frequent score 2. Dispersion: how loosely or tightly clustered the scores are. Inferential Statistics: helps us to determine whether or not we can generalize our findings. Statistical Significance: this helps us to know if the difference we have observed is valid and generalizable. Confidence interval of .05 (1 out of every 20 times) When the probability that our finding would have occurred by chance alone is less than 1 in 20 times then our finding is statistically significant. A finding can be significant but does not relate to the real world. For it to do so we have to keep in mind the sample size. The bigger the findings the greater the chance of it being statistically significant. People can lie with statistics by: Misrepresenting the central tendency Using truncated line graph The base rate fallacy Papers that have been peer reviewed Be careful of the source: most reporters are not scientists. Trusted psychological organizations include: American psychological association Association for Psychological Science. Look out for excessive exaggeration of findings and minimizing of the details of study. Avoid pseudosymmetry (where scientific controversy appears when there is none). A psychologist is a person highly trained in the methods, factual knowledge, and theories of psychology. Psychologists usually have a masters degree or a doctorate. Psychologists may teach, do research, give psychological tests, or serve as consultants to business, industry, government, or the military.

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who treats

mental disorders. Most psychiatrists actually do psychotherapy, but they are also qualified to prescribe drugs, which is something a psychologist cannot do. APA lists 350 subfields in psychology.Some of the fields include:Developmental psychologyAbnormal psychologySocial psychologyPhysiological psychologyExperimental psychologyPersonality psychologyClinical psychologyCommunity psychologyCounseling and school psychologyIndustrial- organizational psychologyEngineering and industrial- organizational psychologyNeuropsychologyDevelopmental Psychology- Examines the function of age on behaviour. Examines the age at which people should be performing certain behaviours and how events that occur at various ages affect behaviour.

Abnormal psychology- area in psychology that is

focused on maladaptive behaviour- its causes, consequences and treatment. It tries to answer questions like: What is going on in a persons life that results in unhappiness and disordered behaviour? What can be done to alleviate this problem?

Social Psychology- This is the study of the way people

are affected by social situations. The field examines issues , such as how people form and change attitudes; how they form impressions about themselves and each other; why they are attracted to some people and repelled by others; and how being in a group affects their behaviours and beliefs. Physiological psychology- studies the biological basis for behaviour. It is concerned with such issues as how the brain is structured to store and receive information, how signals are transmitted through the nervous system to excite our muscles to action, and our mood and actions are influenced by hormones

Personality psychologist- focus on explaining

and predicting the unique ways that people respond to their environment. It also helps to describe our personality and why it is different from that of others.

Forensic psychology- concerned with behaviours

that relate to our legal system. Forensic psychologists work with judges and lawyers who are trying to improve the reliability of witnesses and jury decisions, and are also consulted on the mental competency of accused people. Neuropsychologists study the relationship between the brain and a persons behavior. They specialize in conducting extensive neurological and psychological testing useful for determining surgical candidacy, diagnosing functional and physical disorders, determining ability to return to work or school & designing rehabilitation plans. Psychology is considered to be a science because ________ The four main goals of psychology are _________ Psychologists use scientific methods such as __________ Psychologists adhere to ethical principles of research, which protects the rights of human participants by _____________ The major difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist is _____________ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFV7 1QPvX2I http://youtube.com/watch?v=JJYVhTLZK0 M